Old news

From June 2004.


6/30/04 New Adult Swim schedules, set your VCRs, or just plan to watch them, either one.
As of Saturday July 3rd, Inuyasha and new episodes of Wolf's Rain will be rescheduled to midnight and 12:30am to make room for Futurama and Sealab 2021. Witch Hunter Robin and Big O will be removed from the broadcast schedule. Witch Hunter Robin will be back in November, on weeknights, for a full run.
As of Monday July 5th, Inuyasha will be put back on weeknights at 12:30am, pushing Case Closed to 1am. Lupin the 3rd will follow at 1:30am, replacing Trigun.
On Saturday October 23rd, Adult Swim will play Inuyasha: The Love that Transcends Time (movie 1) at midnight.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex will premier on November 6th at 11pm, followed by Fullmetal Alchemist and the Read or Die "movie."

Nausicaa.net now hosts a DivX 5 encoded, 18 Mb AVI format trailer for Hayao Miyazaki's upcoming film Howl's Moving Castle. The article which includes the video clip also contains an English translation of the dialogue and on-screen text in the 2 minute long trailer.

According to Anime News Network, director Hiroaki Ghoda has confirmed in a Japanese TV interview that the upcoming Ah! my Goddess TV series will pick up where the original OAV series ended and continue to adapt Kousuke Fujishima's original manga, hopefully for as long as the animation remains popular.

America One Television will begin airing the 1993 version of Kimba the White Lion (Jungle Emperor Leo) starting July 4th. The show will air Sundays at 11:30am EST in a 1-hour block which will repeat at midnight.

The Encore Action Channel will begin airing Vandread in July during its Animidnight program.

Image Entertainment has announced that Galerians: Rion's world broadcast premiere will be on MTV2 on July 3, 2004, and will coincide with MTV2's anime festival.



6/28/04 Today's issue of Weekly Shonen Jump announces that a Prince of Tennis movie will be released in Japanese theatres sometime in 2005.

6/27/04 Well, I put up two, yes that's two, Pen Thoughts in the Pen Penny section. I also moved two to Previous Pennys. I also moved some news to Old News.

The following will be released on Region 1 DVD this Tuesday:
Comic Party Vol. 3
Dirty Thoughts
Dragonball Z TV 65: Cell Games: Surrender
Gravitation Vol. 1 (also w/box)
Gunparade March Vol. 3
Kino's Journey Vol. 4
Magical Play
R.O.D. the TV Vol. 1 (also w/box)
Saint Seiya Vol. 7
Texhnolyze Vol. 2
Twelve Kingdoms Vol. 6
Vanilla Series: Private Sessions


6/25/04 Two trailers for the new Berserk game that is being made for the PS2 are online. The first one is apparently the intro to the game, while the second shows some of the gameplay from when Guts is protecting the church from a group of trolls. There still is no announcements or even projections about when the game will be released or if it will even be released stateside.

Actor Vince Vaughn has apparently convinced WB to give the live action Speed Racer movie another chance after pitching them a new idea for the franchise. Vaughn's Speed Racer would focus more on character and plot development than fast paced racing scenes that are much more expensive to produce. Vaughn will apparently play the part of Racer X.

Yesterday, Variety reported that Hollywood screenwriter Ben Ramsey has a half-million-dollar deal with 20th Century Fox to do the Dragonball Z adaptation. This comes to light barely a week after an official comment that the movie wasn't being worked on and was dead in the water.

According to Absolute-0, the uncut DVD releases of Yu-Gi-Oh and Shaman King will be bilingual. The English dub tracks on the uncut DVDs will use the American character names, and will employ all of the original American voice actors to re-record the uncut episodes with new dialogue based on the uncut scripts.

Dark Horse Comics has announced plans to re-release the first Trigun manga graphic novel in a hardcover version this August. The hardcover Trigun manga volume 1 will only be available at Barnes & Noble stores and will retail at $11.95, $3 less than than the currently available softcover version.

Live Sockets Entertainment, a leading producer of street racing, underground hip-hop and action sports videos, has announced plans to distribute a new documentary on anime fans titled "Go Go Anime!" The film is reported to be, "The first documentary to explore the fans' experiences in the world of Japanese animation." Representatives from Live Sockets Entertainment will be previewing the trailer and promoting the documentary at Anime Expo 2004 in Anaheim, CA on July 2-5, 2004.

According to Anime on DVD, the currently out of print Slayers movie 1 DVD will be rereleased this fall as part of AD Vision's Anime Essentials line of bargain priced DVDs.

Japanese satellite TV network AT-X has scheduled the premier broadcast of Petit Cossette OAV 2 for July 11th. The broadcast will be coupled with a re-broadcast of OAV 1.

The cover of the August issue of Monthly Shonen Ace-A Magazine reports that Sosuke Kaize's action manga Grenadier and Kaishaku's manga Kaminatsuki no Miko will be adapted into anime TV series for broadcast this fall. The Grenadier animation will be produced by Studio Live, the animators behind World of Narue. The Kaminatsuki no Miko anime will be produced by TNK, the studio that animated Kaishaku's manga series UFO Princess Valkyrie.

Comics One has announced that the first volume of Towa Oshima's High School Girls will be released this August, and the first volume of Yu Aikawa's Dark Edge will be released in September.

Weekly Morning says Kaiji Kawaguchi's war manga Zipang will be animated. It is not stated whether the animation will be an OAV, TV series or movie.

ADV Music has announced its first release in a long time, Elastic Media's Anime X-plode! Not a typical ADV Music release, Anime X-plode! is not an anime soundtrack, but rather a collection of ten tracks produced by American artists and inspired by anime.

DC has sent out a press release detailing the October launch of their new manga imprint, CMX. Their first three titles will be Madara, Mekakushi no Kuni and Eroika yori Ai wo Komete. Other titles to be released by CMX at later, unspecified dates, include GALS!, Tenjo Tenge, Swan, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Musashi No. 9 and Akumo de Soro.

My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Porco Rosso, all of which were due to be released on DVD on August 31st have been delayed with no new date for their release yet announced.



6/19/04 Janice Williams of ADV Films has clarified the news from AnimeNext in regards to Nadesico: "These will be part of the Essential Anime line. There will be three, two-disc sets. The first set will street in September. SRP is currently planned at $19.98. The overlays will be gone. English audio will be upgraded to 5.1."

6/17/04 Toei Animation has announced plans to adapt Akiyama Mizuhito's popular novel series Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu into an anime next year. The announcement does not clarify if the anime will be a TV series or OAV series.

Courtesy of Anime News Network, PR Newswire has the Geneon (Japan) announcement of the Appleseed license and the worldwide plans it has for it via Geneon Entertainment (USA), as well as the Tetsujin 28 title.

Friday night / Saturday Morning will see the Cartoon Network premieres of .hack//DUSK (Legend of the Twilight Bracelet) at 1:00am and Cyborg 009 Season 2 at 1:30.



6/16/04 According to the official Naruto movie website, the Naruto movie scheduled to open in Japanese theaters on August 21st will be a double feature of the main feature and a bonus short Naruto movie.

TV Tokyo has announced the premier dates of its new anime series beginning next month.
Monkey Turn V will debut on July 3rd at 12:55 AM
Maria-sama ga Miteru ~ Haru will debut on July 4th at 7:30 PM
Soukyuu no Fafnir will debut on July 4th at 1:30 AM
Galaxy Angel (4th series) will debut on July 7th at 1:00 AM

Kadokawa has opened its official website for the upcoming anime TV series Girls Bravo.

According to IGN Filmforce, A Fox representative has informed them that “[W]e [Fox] won't be making that movie,” in regards to Dragonball Z. ILM, who was originally approached by Fox to do the special effects for the Dragonball Z movie has stated that Fox is no longer pushing the project with them and that, to their knowledge, no one is currently working on it.


6/15/04 Boy, it's been a while but I put up a much overdue Pen Thought to the Pen Penny section and moved an old one to Previous Pennys.

Publisher Last Gasp has announced plans to re-release Keiji Nakazawa's haunting classic autobiographical manga series Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima. Barefoot Gen was possibly the first manga series translated for American release in the early 1980s. The Last Gasp publication will include an all new translation.

Dark Horse has announced a line of Trigun "anime manga," books made up of stills from anime episodes. (TOKYOPOP refers to these books as "Cine-Manga." Viz calls them "Visual Manga." In Japan they're known as "film comics."). The first book will retail at $14.95, available October 27th.

Starchild has opened its official website for the anime TV series Futakoi, scheduled to premier in September.

According to a press release, Del Rey has acquired the manga series, The Wallflower and Othello, both due for publication in October 2004.

Tactics, the popular manga by Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama, is to be animated by Studio DEEN.


6/10/04 Square Enix and Bandai have announced development of two new Fullmetal Alchemist games for the Playstation 2. Full Metal Alchemist: Akaki Elixir no Akuma will be an action RPG released in Japan this fall and in America next year. Full Metal Alchemist: Dream Carnival will be a 3D tag-team fighting game developed by Eighting, the creator of the Bloody Roar series.

Bandai will release the 2D fighting game SD Gundam Force for the Japanese Gameboy Advance on August 5th.

Konami has announced that the Get Ride! Amdriver: Born of the Hero tactical simulation RPG based on the current anime TV series, will be released for the Gameboy Advance on July 22.

Young Magazine has announced that the current CLAMP manga series xxxHOLiC will be adapted into a theatrical anime motion picture for release in 2005.

The Uchuu Koukyoushi Maetel ~Ginga Tetsudo 999 Gaiden~ (Space Symphonic Poem Maetel ~Galaxy Express 999 Side Story~) anime TV series will debut on SKY Perfect TV on August 6, 2004. The series begins two years after the end of the Maetel Legend OAV series and will reportedly include appearances by the young Captain Harlock and Tochiro.

Viz has reportedly announced that Megaman: NT Warrior (Rockman.exe) DVD volume 1 will be released on August 24th. The DVD will retail at $14.98 and contain English dubbed, American TV broadcast episodes only.

According to a post from David Williams of ADV Films to the AoD forums, in addition to the single disc release of the Evangelion Platinum series, they'll now also release a sturdy chipboard box designed to hold all seven discs with the first volume. The box + volume 1 will have an SRP of $39.98 and street at the same time as the individual disc. Images will be forthcoming.



6/9/04 TOKYOPOP has issued an official press release detailing its extensive marketing and merchandising plans for Rave Master, including a DVD volume 1 that contains 2 episodes, "cine-manga" books, toys, wall calendars, bedsheets and bath towels, electronic games, and apparel.

According to eS! Books, the August issue of Shonen GanGan Magazine, on sale in Japan beginning July 12th, will include a free Fullmetal Alchemist SD Edward Elric mascot figure strap, and a mail away offer for a Roy Mustang mascot strap. The September issue, on sale August 12th, will include a free SD Alphonse Elric mascot figure strap.

The "Hana Ukyo Maid Team" license that Geneon announced at the New York Licensing show appears to be for the "Hanaukyo Maid Tai La Verite" series. Geneon's brochure only refers to the licensed show as "Hana Ukyo Maid Team," however the brochure includes the Japanese "La Verite" logo.

MTV has announced a mock anime series called Kappa Mikey. The series will chronicle the struggles of a new star anime voice actor who is not exactly right for the job. It tracks the "behind the scenes" world of a fictitious Japan anime series, "LilyMu," through the eyes of voice talent Mikey. The series is from Larry Schwarz.



6/8/04 According to Galaxy Anime, Al Kahn, CEO of 4Kids Entertainment, has confirmed the acquisition to translation and distribution rights to the One Piece anime series at the presently ongoing Licensing Show in New York City.

Green Bunny has scheduled the Japanese release of Mezzo Forte International Version for July 23rd. The 7,140 yen ($65 American) DVD & VHS release will contain both Mezzo Forte OAVs with remastered 5.1 audio. The sexual scenes from the original releases will be removed from the International Version. The International Version, though, lists an 80 minute running time, which is 20 minutes longer than the combined original Mezzo Forte OAVs. The official page does not mention any new footage and does not include additional tech specs such as language options.

Geneon announced four new licenses at the 2004 Licensing International show in New York: Tenjou Tenge, Samurai Champloo, Hana Ukyo Maid Team and Daphne in the Brilliant Blue. The titles for these last two are tentative.

Movielink has announced that they will be offering the full 52 episodes of Speed Racer for streaming download via their broadband Video on Demand service.


6/7/04 At the recent A-Kon convention AD Vision announced its acquisition of translation and distribution rights to the magical girl TV series Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, the sci-fi/action TV series E's Otherwise (pronounced "S Otherwise"), and Production I.G.'s "otaku" comedy Sakigake!! Cromartie High School.

At the recent A-Kon convention Bandai Entertainment announced its acquisition of translation and distribution rights to the romantic drama Dear Boys and the Yoshiyuki (Gundam) Tomino created mecha show Overman King Gainer. Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam will hit American DVD in September, followed by Galaxy Angel Zeta (TV series 2) in October and Please Twins (Onegai Twins) in November. Bandai also announced that some, but not all of the domestic Gundam Seed DVDs will be released in regular and limited edition versions.

At the recent A-Kon convention FUNimation announced its acquisition of translation and distribution rights to the action/drama anime TV series Gunslinger Girl. FUNimation is also negotiating for localization rights to the Japanese Gunslinger Girl Playstation 2 game. Shaman King will be released to domestic DVD beginning on October 19th in edited American TV and uncut subtitled versions. Also on October 19th, FUNimation will begin releasing an uncut version of the second Yu-Gi-Oh TV series, the series that's currently broadcast on American television in an edited form.

4Kids Entertainment has announced its acquisition of translation rights to the F-Zero: Falcon Legend anime TV series. The show will be re-named "F-Zero: GP Legend" for its American television broadcast this fall. 4Kids has apparently also decided to retain the original Japanese title "Tokyo Mew Mew" instead of using the previously announced American title "Hollywood Mew Mew."

According to Moon Phase, Studio Comet, animators of the current anime TV series Shura no Toki, will animate a TV series adaptation of Kobayashi Jin's popular School Rumble manga for Japanese broadcast this October.

At the Bookexpo America show at McCormick Place in Chicago, DC Comics displayed art from three manga series- Gals, by Mihona Fujii; Musashi #9, by Miyuki Takahashi; and Madara, by Sho-u Tajima and Eiji Otsuka- to illustrats its planned "CMX manga line" but refused to confirm acquisition of translation rights to any of these three titles.

Katsuhiro Otomo's latest anime film, , will be released to Japanese theaters on July 17th. Yahoo Japan reports that the film will be released in North America, England, France and Italy this October. The North American release date was picked in part to make sure that the movie would be eligible for next year's American Academy Awards nomination.

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